2017 Quilceda Creek CVR Columbia Valley Washington 750 ml

“This awesome estate is producing some of the top Cabernet Sauvignon blends in the state, and I would venture, the world,” according to former Wine Advocate critic Jeb Dunnuck. From an estate that boasts five perfect 100-point scores from Robert Parker and countless top scores from every other major publication, we invite you to experience Quilceda Creek at an unimaginable bargain price. 

Or as Dunnuck summarized in his 95-point review, “The 2017 Columbia Valley CVR is smoking stuff.” A complete wine already, it should evolve beautifully for up to two decades, which is perhaps why Dunnuck went on to declare this Quilceda Creek “not far off the top releases.”

Powerful and complex, this 2017 Columbia Valley Red (CVR) balances dark fruit with elegant showmanship: Concentrated blackberry is offset by ripe tannins and notions of cedar, new leather, and pipe tobacco. The CVR’s aromatic symphony impresses on the finish the way $250+ Napa Valley wines do… but does so for a mere $60. 

That last line is especially significant when you consider that those top releases include five flawless 100-point Cabs from Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate over a span of twelve years—securing Quilceda Creek’s place among the Advocate’s top-rated American Cabernet Sauvignons of all time. 

Not a bad comparison for a wine that costs roughly 1/4 of the $225 flagship. 

Quilceda Creek is one of the timeless icons of American winemaking, producing collectible wines each vintage that no serious cellar is complete without. Founded by a Russian émigré in 1978, the family-run estate has magnified Washington State’s finest terroirs into Cabernets that have few equals anywhere for sheer power, seamless integration, and silky polish.  

Ask founder Alex Golitzin about his favorite wines, and he’ll tell you about a revelatory 1982 Château Pichon-Lalande or a kingly 1990 Château Montrose—bottles whose poised combination of layered structure and balance clearly formed the mold for every tier of his lauded Cabernet portfolio. 

Alex was tutored by Napa legend André Tchelistcheff—who happened to be his uncle. It was Tchelistcheff who counseled him to focus on one grape. Golitzin took the advice to heart, seeking single-minded perfection and becoming what the Wine Advocate has called “Washington’s benchmark for world-class Cabernet Sauvignon.”

Alex’s son Paul, a superstar vintner in his own right, has taken over winemaking duties. His 2017 CVR is a dazzling evocation of the growing season’s ideal warm summer days and cool evenings right up through harvest—it’s luxuriously silky in texture yet bolstered by a bright acidity and big-shouldered structure that is Quilceda’s trademark. The pedigree of the vineyards is second to none in Washington, with grapes hailing from the world-famous Champoux (one of the oldest in the state), Galitzine, Palengat, and Wallula sites.

For collectors, Quilceda Creek is right up there alongside the very greatest in the annals of American wine, and at a mere $60, this 2017 CVR impressively honors that reputation without needing to be impressively honored every time it’s opened. 

Or as Dunnuck put it in his 95-point review, this is simply “a stunning value in world-class Cabernet Sauvignon.”